ArticleNorth American Spine Society journal2023
Modern internet search analytics and spine: what are patients asking and reading online?
Article in North American Spine Society journal, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Readability of Online Patient Education Materials for Endoscopic Spine Surgery.Spine surgery and related research · 2026Article
- AI in patient education: a comparative analysis of the quality and readability of AI generated patient education material on spinal fusion.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- Online Questions About Clubfoot Surgery: Content Analysis and Development of a Patient Education Resource.Journal of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America · 2026Article
- Refining patient education on autologous chondrocyte implantation for chondral lesions of the knee: A fine-tuned ChatGPT-4o model improves readability and quality.Journal of experimental orthopaedics · 2025Article
- GPT-4 as a source of patient information for cervical disc arthroplasty: a comparative analysis against Google web search.Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong) · 2025Article
- What are patients asking and reading online? An analysis of online patient searches about treatments for developmental dysplasia of the hip.Journal of children's orthopaedics · 2025Article
- GPT-4 as a Source of Patient Information for Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion: A Comparative Analysis Against Google Web Search.Global spine journal · 2024Review
- Google Search Trends About Systemic Psoriasis Treatment: What Do People Want to Know About Biologics and Janus Kinase Inhibitors?JMIR dermatology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Google's People Also Ask feature uses various machine learning algorithms to distill the most frequently asked questions and link users to potential answers. The aim of this study is to investigate the most frequently asked questions related to commonly performed spine surgeries. Methods: This is an observational study utilizing Google's People Also Ask feature. A variety of search terms were entered into Google for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF), discectomy, and lumbar fusion. Frequently asked questions and linked websites were extracted. Questions were categorized by topic based on Rothwell's Classification system, and websites were categorized by type. Pearson's chi-squared and Student Results: A total of 576 unique questions (181 ACDF, 148 discectomy, 309 lumbar fusion) were extracted with 372 unique websites and 177 domains. The most common website types were medical practice (41%), social media (22%), and academic (15%). The most popular question topics were specific activities & restrictions (22%), technical details (23%), and evaluation of surgery (17%). Questions related to technical details were more common in discectomy vs lumbar fusion (33% vs 24%, p=.03) and lumbar fusion vs ACDF (24% vs 14%, p=.01). Questions related to specific activities & restrictions were more common in ACDF vs discectomy (17% vs 8%, p=.02) and ACDF vs lumbar fusion (28% vs 19%, p=.016). Questions related to risks & complications were more common in ACDF vs lumbar fusion (10% vs 4%, p=.01). Conclusions: The most frequently asked questions on Google regarding spine surgery are related to technical details and activity restrictions. Surgeons may emphasize these domains in consultations and direct patients to reputable sources of further information. Much of the linked information provided originates from nonacademic and nongovernment sources (72%), with 22% from social media websites.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.